SBDC

Business Management

Human Resources

Leadership

Sales & Marketing

Education

SBDC

Smart Start: Starting a New Business
Do you have a business idea or looking to purchase a business? This workshop will guide you through what you need to know to launch your business and be successful. Hear from a local entrepreneur about how they started their business and lessons learned along the way. Learn how to create a business plan, conduct market research and estimate costs, prepare for a bank loan, legally organize the business and other license/permit requirements, record keeping and taxes, marketing ideas, and what financing options are available. Receive a business plan template, step-by-step guide to opening your business, and other resources available to help you succeed! Class sponsored by America's SBDC Iowa.

Business Management

Business Bookkeeping Certificate
This Certificate is designed for those who want to become a bookkeeper or for small business owners who would like to understand bookkeeping better. Increase your skills in payroll, Quickbooks, Excel, and tax knowledge to enable you to perform bookkeeping accurately and efficiently. Classes include: Word Basics, Accounting Basics, Payroll Accounting, Excel Basics, Excel Intermediate, QuickBooks Online, Understand Your Business Taxes.

Accounting Basic Concepts
Designed for the non-accountant bookkeeper, office manager or owner of a business. Learn basic accounting terms including revenues, expenses, assets, and liabilities. Learn to build and read the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. Become familiar with accounting debits and credits as you learn how to record transactions in this hands-on course. This course is approved for the Business Bookkeeping Certificate.

Payroll Accounting
It's a fact of business—if a company has employees, it has to account for payroll, fringe benefits, and payroll taxes. This comprehensive course will guide you through processing a new employee, calculating payroll and payroll taxes, payroll tax reporting, and periodic and year end payroll reporting to the government. This course is approved for the Business Bookkeeping Certificate.

QuickBooks Online Software Comprehensive
We make it easy to get comfortable with QuickBooks.  This course will address setting up your chart accounts, customer and vendor files, recurring transactions, and products/services you sell.  Learn how to manage money coming in including sales, invoicing, and deposits, and money going out by paying bills, booking credit card expenditures, and tracking expenses.  You'll learn how to reconcile accounts, track loans and loan payments, book fiexed assets, and use reports to understand your business, track sales trends and profitability, and prepare for tax time.  You'll leave knowing that you're doing a good job and can handle whatever QuickBooks sends your way. This course is approved for the Business Bookkeeping Certificate.

Understand Your Business Taxes
Income tax, sales tax, payroll tax, and the list goes on for taxes your business pays. Discussion will center on the various business taxes, forms and ways to file and pay the taxes, and things you can do in your record keeping system to better understand and lessen your tax burden. Participants will receive all materials and are encouraged to bring specific questions. This course is approved for the Business Bookkeeping Certificate.

QuickBooks Q & A
TWhether you are new to QuickBooks Online or Desktop or could use a better understanding of either program, this workshop is for you.  An overview of the program will be highlighted, as well as questions you bring to the workshop.

Human Resources

New SHRM Certification Prep Information Session
Free information session to learn about the SHRM Certification Test Prep Course.

SHRM Certification Prep
Commit to Your Career. HR professionals like you are facing new and larger challenges each day due in part to a changing workforce, shifting legislation and regulations and so much more. Ensure you're prepared for these changes, and anything else thrown your way with SHRM's global HR credentials, SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP. Unlike memorization-based certification credentials, SHRM certification measures an HR professional's most critical skill: the ability to apply HR principles to real-life situations. No other exam compares. By becoming SHRM certified, you prove your knowledge, competency and value to colleagues and to employers looking for a competitive edge in today's global economy. Wherever your career takes you, your SHRM certification will define you as an HR expert and leader. Network and collaborate with peers to share real-life examples and bring HR knowledge and competencies to life. The tuition includes the cost of instruction and the SHRM learning system (online and printed material). This course is provided through a partnership with North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC).  Register by 1/27/2023

SHRM Essentials of HR
Sharpen Your HR Skills to Face Today's Hr Issues SHRM, the leading global HR professional organization, has developed the SHRM Essentials of Human Resources course, which teaches the HR knowledge, skills and competencies required for overall business success. Whether you are new to HR, or it's one of the many roles you fulfill at your company. In less than 20 hours of training time, you can cover the issues you need to reduce potentially costly lawsuits. The straightforward format ensures that HR concepts can be mastered and applied to real-life situations. This course is in partnership with North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC).

Leadership

Effective Performance Appraisals
Learn to write measurable performance expectations and evaluate nontangible skills.  Learn to evaluate employees' current performance and write performance objectives they can follow.  This course covers when employees do not meet expectations and disciplinary action that must be taken; as well as progressive discipline including written performance plans.  This course is approved for the Effective Management Certificate.

Supervision Certificate
Leader, manager, supervisor, team leader – no matter what your official title, you're expected to get the job done through others. This course provides new and experienced supervisors with the tools and skills for building personal confidence in their leadership role. You will see the relevance of the training, rapidly acquire the skills, and quickly put them to use on the job. Attend all twelve modules and earn a certificate in Supervision. Our program is designed for anyone who manages people in manufacturing, retail, or service industries.

Supervision Survival Skills
This training program is designed for new managers and non-managers interested in or identified for promotion. Knowledge gained in this program will enable you to avoid some of the hard lessons that come from on-the-job learning. Applicable in manufacturing, service, and retail organizations, this seminar presents the fundamental leadership and communication skills and techniques required to manage employees effectively. Content of this training covers the first two modules of the Supervision Certificate.

Delegation for Leaders
The strongest leaders are those that empower others to be involved with the work of their organization.  Too many leaders believe they have to shoulder the weight of the priorities alone.  This is not so.  A key skill to develop, is that of being able to delegate all kinds of work tasks, priorities and projects to team members at every development level.  In this session, participants will learn the importance of delegation, the proper way to delegate to people at each development level, novice to expert, and how to build bench strength as a result of proper empowerment and delegation.. This course is approved for the Effective Management Certificate.

Introduction to Project Management
When faced with change, you have one of three choices…lead, follow or get out of the way. Choose to lead! This course will help managers deal with change in the workplace – both personally and as a leader of their team. Topics include understanding both positive and negative effects of change, learning personal response to change, helping to lead employees through change, seeing change as an opportunity, and communication during change. This course is approved for the Effective Management Certificate.

Emotional Intelligence
Your emotions play a vital role in our work and personal lives.  Channeling your emotions, either positively or negatively, can make or break your professional relationships.  We will gain insight into how to use our emotions to create positive workplace results. Through discussion we will uncover techniques that will allow you to set asside emotions that sabotage your own effectiveness.  This course is approved for the Effective Management Certificate.

Problem Solving for Teams
Explore strategies and skills to define the problem, foster creative solutions, identify participant qualifications for a given problem and select problem-solving techniques.  This course is approved for the Effective Mangement Certificate.

Buddy to Boss
One day, they are your co-workers and buddies - the people you socialize and take coffee breaks with.  Now, you're their boss.  Suddenly, you find yourself questioning what you should and shouldn't say to your former co-workers.  Your job is now about them and no longer all about you.  The challenge is not only in taking on the demands of a new, elevated role and the skills and knowledge required, but it is also in making the emotional and mental transition to that of manager.

HR Legal Issues for Managers
Learn about the human resource function and legal issues that impact a manager's role.  Get an overview of the major employment laws and work with case studies to apply the principals learned.  This course is approved for the Effective Management Certificate.

Business Mentoring & Coaching
Learn a coaching strategy to supplement your leadership and management strategies.  Understand the qualities of great coaches, leadership coaching strategies and coaching skills.  You will have the opportunity to practice coaching skills as well as experience being coached with fellow participants.  This course is approved for the Effective Management Certificate.

Communication Skills for Managers
Participants will discuss how to be a better listener and how to coach an employee to cahnge their performance to meet expectations.  Practice giving feedback to employees through role-play.  Whether communication to your team members, peers or your own manager, this course will help you hone both your communication and influencing skills, helping you deliver the right message for winning outcomes.  This course is approved for the Effective Management Certificate.

Management Basics
Get the core skills you need to ensure success as a manager.  Discover the admired traits of managers and the fatal flaw that curtail one's success.  In this highly interactive session you will learn and put into practice how to build credibility, flex one's management style to fit the situation, building effective teams, as well as the topics of communication, delegation, professionalism and ethics.  This course provides the essence of managerial excellence.

Sales & Marketing

Videography & Video Editing for Business.
Created for business owners who are intereste in using the medium of video to build a wider customer base, this class will cover the entire video production process. Starting with planning, moving onto basic camerawork principles and techiques, and finishing with editing with the industry standard software Adobe Premiere, this class will equip you with the tools you need to produce professional quality commercials for your business, even how high-quality vido can be taken from a smartphone.

Facebook Advertising for Business
Still think Facebook is a fad?  Advertisers of all shapes and sizes are finding ways to leverage the social media giant's 1.2 billion users.  You know you don't need to reach everyone on Facebook, but engaging even a teeny-tiny fraction of users who live in your corner of the world could do a lot for your business.  Learn how to use Facebook's advertising tools to reach, engage and motivate your customers.  Also learn tips on what to say, how to say it, and when to say it.

HTML and CSS Series
Introduction to CSS3 and HTML5 - Learn how to create state-of-the-art Web sites using modern CSS3 and HTML5 techniques. Take your existing HTML skills to the next level and start building sites like the pros. If you want to survive and excel in the fast-paced world of Web publishing, you're going to need to keep up with ever-evolving standards. The new standard for Web developers is to use CSS3 and HTML5.

Digital Marketing Suite
Marketing Your Business on the Internet - Find out how to market your business on the Internet, even if you have little or no money to spend! In this practical, hands-on course, you'll discover proven methods that will help you establish an Internet presence and build an online brand identity. You'll learn how search engine optimization (SEO) works and how to track your site's performance using Web analytics. You'll understand how to use online advertising, email marketing, and social media (including blogs) to drive business to your Web site. Finally, you'll learn how to keep your visitors coming back again and again!

Using Social Media in Business
One of the biggest challenges for business owners is finding new customers. Over the past decade, some business owners have leveraged social media to do just that. Whether you're a social media novice or a seasoned veteran, this course will give you a solid foundation in social media marketing and using it to grow your business. In today's globally connected environment, social media is a game changer for businesses.

Achieving Top Search Engine Positions
The vast majority of Web traffic comes from search engines. That means the most important thing you can do to increase your website's traffic is to improve its search engine ranking. To do that, you have to understand both the art and science of search engine optimization (SEO). In this course, you'll gain the knowledge you need to boost your website's visibility. By the end of the course, you'll have mastered proven, step-by-step SEO strategies that you can implement right away.

Education

Communication, Ethics, Confidentiality
This is the first course in preparation for the Para-educator Certificate.  In this course, the student will develop skills and strategies to enhance communication and examine situations where professionalism, ethical standards, and confidentiality will guild correct courses of action when working with colleagues, students, parents, and others.  This course is approved for the Paraeducator Certificate.

Roles & Responsibilities
This is the second course in the Paraeducator Certificate Program.  The student will develop skills and strategies to assist, support and maintain safe environments, educational activities, team interventions, and technology integration when working with colleagues, students, parents, and others.  This course is approved for the Paraeducator Certificate.

Behavior Improvement
This is the third course in the Paraeducator Certificate Program.  The student will gain knowledge, skill, and strategies to assist, support, and maintain the positive social, emotional, and behavioral development of children. This course is approved for the Paraeducator Certificate.

Early Childhood Certificate Level I
This certificate equips individuals with an operational understanding of both historical and modern approaches to early childhood programs, covering the qualities and skills necessary for working with young children.  Health, safety, and nutrition are also discussed as factors which impact growth and development of children from birth to eight.

Introduction to Early Childhood Education
This course is an overview of early childhood programs and curricula, historical and present, and an examination of qualities and skills necessary for working with young children. This course is approved for the Early Childhood Level I Certificate.

Child Health, Safety, and Nutrition
This course focuses on evidence based concepts in the field of health, safety, and nutrition, and their relations to the growth and development of the young child ages birth to eight.  This course blends current theory with problem solving, practical applications, and assessments.  The course includes collaboration with families and assesses the role of culture, language, and ability on health, and nutrition decisions in early childhood settings.  This course is approved for the Early Childhood Level I Certificate.

Early Childhood Certificate Level II 96 hours
In this certificate students learn to develop curricula to support the development of each child, implementing evidence-based practices while being mindful of the impact of each child's family life, culture, language, and abilities. Students also learn to create appropriate learning opportunities, interactions, and environments for children to experience dramatic play, art, music, and fine and gross motor play; ultimately, students will be able to use assessment to analyze and guide children's behaviors.

Early Childhood Curriculum I
This course focuses on the development, implementation and assessment of appropriate environments and cirricula for young children ages birth, through eight. Students prepare to utilize evidence based practices in a context of children's family, culture, language, and abilities. An emphasis will be placed on understanding children's developmental stages and developing appropriate learning opportunities interactions, and environments to support each child in the following areas: dramatic play, art, music, and fine and gross motor play. This course is approved for the Early Childhood Certificate Level II

Early Childhood Guidance
This course focuses on developmentally appropriate, evidence-based approaches and positive guidance strategies for supporting the development of each child. The course emphasizes supportive interactions and developmentally appropriate environments while using assessment to analyze and guide behaviors. Students will learn the impact of family and each child's culture, language, and ability on child guidance. This course is approved for the Early Childhood Certificate Level II.